A small, portable device is set forth in this disclosure which is especially useful for large game hunting such as deer hunting; obviously, it can be used for larger game including elk and the like. This device is useful in skinning and gutting game such as deer and including even larger game, one example being antelope. It is especially useful for game which is sufficiently large that, when shot in the wilderness, it is difficult to move the game. Ideally, it is desirable, even sometimes mandatory, that the freshly killed game be cleaned in the field to avoid meat spoilage. It is highly desirable that the game be gutted and bled in the field so that the meat is protected, and can be carried back from the wilderness location for delivery to a cooler, freeze or other refrigeration system. The present apparatus sets forth such a device. It is particularly small in that it can be folded and carried by the user. Most big game hunts involve treks into a wilderness or wooded location, typically on foot, or at best by horse mounted travel. In any case, the amount of cargo which can be carried is limited.
The present apparatus especially meets this need because it provides a device which is quite small when folded and which can collapse to a very convenient size and yet has only minimal weight. The light weight structure nevertheless unfolds at the time it is needed, providing a structure which has several uses. The several uses will be denoted below but one important use is that the equipment can be used to hoist and hang the carcass of newly killed large game, thereby permitting field dressing. Indeed, the game can be hoisted so that the head hangs downwardly. This is a preliminary step to bleeding the carcass. Another step which is necessary in field cleaning is to hold the carcass in a specific position, then to cut certain parts of the carcass such as specific bones and the like. This apparatus enables that to be done. Moreover, this equipment is particularly adapted for temporary attachment to an overhead rope typically carried by the hunter so that the game carcass can be hoisted so that the hunter can work at a selected elevation on the carcass, carrying out the necessary steps in field dressing.
The present disclosure is a device which is relatively easy to manufacture in comparison with the structure set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 473,127. That device shows a type of hanger with an excessive number of links. Moreover, the links in that device do not enable the device to fold to a neat, narrow package which is easily carried in a back pack, or in a fashion which does not get in the way of other equipment. The same deficiency is noted in U.S. Pat. No. 827,196. Moreover, that device is intended for use in overhead conveyor systems in a slaughter house or the like. A similar structure to the latter is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 892,719. Of more recent vintage, there is the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,813,600. This device is a type of pivotally mounted hooks somewhat similar to the other references. A slaughter house mechanism is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,357. It includes the appropriate leg engaging hooks, but it has a relatively complex pair of braces which enables the device to extend laterally. Finally U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,110 shows a tree mounted support frame that can be momentarily latched to a tree, and provides an overhead pulley support so that a rope can be used to hoist a triangular shaped mechanism engaging the two legs of game to be dressed in the field.
This disclosure is summarized as a structure that is formed of two structural components only, one being a straight frame member. The second structural component is replicated four times in the apparatus. This cuts down on manufacturing cost. It is assembled by providing four pivot points in the system. One of the pivots can be conveniently connected by means of threaded or unthreaded nuts and lock washers in the field. In the closed or compact position, the components lie in a common line so that the portable arrangement of the equipment permits it to fold, thereby being less than two feet in length, and less than about one inch in cross section. Quite obviously, it can be build bigger for handling much larger game. The described size is intended for field dressing of game in a common range of about 80 to 500 pounds undressed weight.